diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/google/gve/gve.h b/drivers/net/ethernet/google/gve/gve.h
index 64eb0442c82f..005cb9dfe078 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/google/gve/gve.h
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/google/gve/gve.h
@@ -47,6 +47,8 @@
 
 #define GVE_RX_BUFFER_SIZE_DQO 2048
 
+#define GVE_GQ_TX_MIN_PKT_DESC_BYTES 182
+
 /* Each slot in the desc ring has a 1:1 mapping to a slot in the data ring */
 struct gve_rx_desc_queue {
 	struct gve_rx_desc *desc_ring; /* the descriptor ring */
diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/google/gve/gve_tx.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/google/gve/gve_tx.c
index 4888bf05fbed..5e11b8236754 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/google/gve/gve_tx.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/google/gve/gve_tx.c
@@ -284,8 +284,8 @@ static inline int gve_skb_fifo_bytes_required(struct gve_tx_ring *tx,
 	int bytes;
 	int hlen;
 
-	hlen = skb_is_gso(skb) ? skb_checksum_start_offset(skb) +
-				 tcp_hdrlen(skb) : skb_headlen(skb);
+	hlen = skb_is_gso(skb) ? skb_checksum_start_offset(skb) + tcp_hdrlen(skb) :
+				 min_t(int, GVE_GQ_TX_MIN_PKT_DESC_BYTES, skb->len);
 
 	pad_bytes = gve_tx_fifo_pad_alloc_one_frag(&tx->tx_fifo,
 						   hlen);
@@ -454,13 +454,11 @@ static int gve_tx_add_skb_copy(struct gve_priv *priv, struct gve_tx_ring *tx, st
 	pkt_desc = &tx->desc[idx];
 
 	l4_hdr_offset = skb_checksum_start_offset(skb);
-	/* If the skb is gso, then we want the tcp header in the first segment
-	 * otherwise we want the linear portion of the skb (which will contain
-	 * the checksum because skb->csum_start and skb->csum_offset are given
-	 * relative to skb->head) in the first segment.
+	/* If the skb is gso, then we want the tcp header alone in the first segment
+	 * otherwise we want the minimum required by the gVNIC spec.
 	 */
 	hlen = is_gso ? l4_hdr_offset + tcp_hdrlen(skb) :
-			skb_headlen(skb);
+			min_t(int, GVE_GQ_TX_MIN_PKT_DESC_BYTES, skb->len);
 
 	info->skb =  skb;
 	/* We don't want to split the header, so if necessary, pad to the end